Holding Dallas together in 2009

Is there any other coaching staff under any more pressure then this group in all of sports? The only other coaching staff that I can think of is the New York Yankees and plenty of people can see the likeness between these two organizations. Dallas, with Jerry Jones at the helm, has and always will have a win now attitude. With that said, Jones wants it on his conditions and history has shown that he is willing to part ways with successful coaches, Tom Landry, Jimmie Johnson, and Bill Parcells, to get his way. With this win now attitude and the disappointment of the 2008 season, the current coaches are going to be as important as the players on the field.

Tell me if this sounds familiar, great during the regular season until late and horrid in the playoffs, having to yet win a playoff game. Sounds like quarterback Tony Romo, doesn’t it.  Well, he isn’t the only one on the Dallas team that this description fits. Head coach Wade Phillips currently has a career winning percentage of .588 and a winning percentage with Dallas of .688. Phillips is a great coach during the regular season, but something happens to him when the pressure is on and his teams start to falter. Currently as a head coach, he holds an atrocious 0-4 record in the playoffs, having lost 3 wildcard games, one with Denver and two with Buffalo, and 1 divisional game, the Cowboys loss to eventual Super Bowl champions, the New York Giants. This is something that will need to change if Phillips wants to make his 34th year in the NFL with the Cowboys in 2010, because this is the last year in Phillips’ contract. This year, Phillips will take over the defensive play calling duties, adding more to his plate.  He took the duties over in 2008, so this it self could determine whether or not he comes back.

An equal to Phillips in pressure is coach in waiting and offensive coordinator Jason Garrett. This year could very well determine Garrett’s fate with the Cowboys. Will he be promoted to head coach if Phillips isn’t brought back, the most likely scenario as long as the offense doesn’t falter or if Phillips is brought back and Garrett stays in his same position? Garrett is a former Cowboys quarterback and spent time as the Miami Dolphins quarterback coach before he came to Dallas for the offensive coordinator position. In his first year, Garrett led Dallas to the third best offense, statistically, in the NFL. This lead to a couple of head coaching offers for Garrett, which he declined. 2008 was a different season than 2007 though, as Garrett was accused by former wide receiver Terrell Owens of having secret meetings with Romo and tight end Jason Witten. This, along with the drop in the Cowboys offense from third to 13^th has put the pressure on Garrett to get the offense back to what it was. He will do this by utilizing the ground game more so than he has the previous two years as the wide receivers continue their development, and without TO, Garrett will have the freedom of spreading the ball around without the worries of setting off the ticking time bomb that was Terrell Owens.

Ray Sherman will be entering his 35th year in coaching and second with Dallas as the receivers coach. Sherman has worked with the likes of Jerry Rice, Javon Walker, Donald Driver, Robert Ferguson, Drew Bennett and Bobby Wade, all of whom, including Rice, enjoyed career years with Sherman. This track record will prove quite helpful as Sherman is working a group of receivers that could determine how far the Cowboys go this year. Without Terrell Owens, the only proven commodity in the passing game is Witten, so Sherman will need to get guys like Roy Williams, Miles Austin, Patrick Crayton, and Sam Hurd to a level where they can be depended on to makes plays every game. This helps everyone on the team, from Tony Romo down to every player on the defense, because these guys, if productive, will keep the chains moving and the scoreboard lit up.

These three coaches will play very integral parts this season to get the Cowboys not only back into the postseason, but more importantly back into the win column.  Their very coaching futures could be determined by the outcome of the 2009 season.